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2019: This blog was ranked #50 in top 100 blogs about adoption. Let's make it #1...

2019: WE NEED A TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION Commission in the US now for the Adoption Programs that stole generations of children... Goldwater Institute's work to dismantle ICWA is another glaring attempt at cultural genocide.

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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

GENEVA (10 September 2013) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on
the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, today called on the
relevant state, federal and tribal authorities in the United States of
America to take all necessary measures to ensure the wellbeing and human
rights of ‘Veronica,’ an almost four year old Cherokee child at the
center of a highly contentious custody dispute.
“Veronica’s human rights as a child and as member of the Cherokee
Nation, an indigenous people, should be fully and adequately considered
in the ongoing judicial and administrative proceedings that will
determine her future upbringing,” Mr. Anaya stressed. “The individual
and collective rights of all indigenous children, their families and
indigenous peoples must be protected throughout the United States.”
Veronica is currently facing judicially ordered removal from her
Cherokee family and community. In June of this year the US Supreme Court
ruled that certain protections of the Indian Child Welfare Act did not
apply to proceedings in which a non-Cherokee couple sought to adopt
Veronica, given the particular circumstances of the case. The high
court, however, it did not make an ultimate determination of the
disposition of the adoption proceedings.
Following the Supreme Court decision, a South Carolina state court
awarded custody of Veronica to the non-Cherokee couple, but it did so
without a determination of whether her transfer away from her Cherokee
family would be in her best interests in light of her current situation
and Cherokee heritage. Although Veronica lived with the non-Cherokee
couple in South Carolina for the first two years of her life, she has
now resided with her father and extended indigenous family in Cherokee
territory in the state of Oklahoma for nearly two years.
South Carolina authorities have attempted to force Veronica’s father
to release custody of her, charging him with custodial interference for
his refusal to do so. On 3 September 2013 the Oklahoma Supreme Court
took up the case, granting a temporary stay of an enforcement order and
allowing the father to keep Veronica pending further proceedings.“I urge the relevant authorities, as well as all parties involved in
the custody dispute, to ensure the best interests of Veronica, fully
taking into account her rights to maintain her cultural identity and to
maintain relations with her indigenous family and people,” said the UN
Special Rapporteur.
The independent expert pointed out that these rights are guaranteed
by various international instruments subscribed to or endorsed by the
US, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In his 2012 report* on the situation of indigenous peoples in the US,
the Special Rapporteur noted that the removal and separation of Indian
children from indigenous environments is an issue of longstanding and
ongoing concern. “While past practices of removal of Indian children
from their families and communities have been partially blunted by
passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978, this law continues to
face barriers to its implementation,” Mr. Anaya stated.
“I encourage the United States to work with indigenous peoples, state
authorities and other interested parties to investigate the current
state of affairs relating to the practices of foster care and adoption
of indigenous children, and to develop procedures for ensuring that the
rights of these children are adequately protected,” the UN Special
Rapporteur said.

The UN Human Rights Council appointed S. James Anaya as Special
Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples in March 2008. Mr. Anaya
is a Regents Professor and the James J. Lenoir Professor of Human Rights
Law and Policy at the University of Arizona (United States). As Special
Rapporteur, he is independent from any government or organization and
serves in his individual capacity. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/SRIndigenousPeoples/Pages/SRIPeoplesIndex.aspx

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Please support NARF

Indian Country is under attack. Native tribes and people are fighting hard for justice. There is need for legal assistance across Indian Country, and NARF is doing as much as we can. With your help, we have fought for 48 years and we continue to fight.

It is hard to understand the extent of the attacks on Indian Country. We are sending a short series of emails this month with a few examples of attacks that are happening across Indian Country and how we are standing firm for justice.

Today, we look at recent effort to undo laws put in place to protect Native American children and families. All children deserve to be raised by loving families and communities. In the 1970s, Congress realized that state agencies and courts were disproportionately removing American Indian and Alaska Native children from their families. Often these devastating removals were due to an inability or unwillingness to understand Native cultures, where family is defined broadly and raising children is a shared responsibility. To stop these destructive practices, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

After forty years, ICWA has proven to be largely successful and many states have passed their own ICWAs. This success, however, is now being challenged by large, well-financed opponents who are actively and aggressively seeking to undermine ICWA’s protections for Native children. We are seeing lawsuits across the United States that challenge ICWA’s protections. NARF is working with partners to defend the rights of Native children and families.

where were you adopted?

To Veronica Brown

Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.

Join!

National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network (NISCWN)

Membership Application Form

The Network is open to all Indigenous and Foster Care Survivors any time.

ADOPTION TRUTH

As the single largest unregulated industry in the United States, adoption is viewed as a benevolent action that results in the formation of “forever families.” The truth is that it is a very lucrative business with a known sales pitch. With profits last estimated at over $1.44 billion dollars a year, mothers who consider adoption for their babies need to be very aware that all of this promotion clouds the facts and only though independent research can they get an accurate account of what life might be like for both them and their child after signing the adoption paperwork.

This has happened to many, many Native children! We must protect ICWA and enforce it so that it stops! Even non-Native families that are not racist cannot provide a Native child with cultural knowledge and belonging. Only their tribes can do that. #ProudtoProtectICWAhttps://t.co/oA1e5kiK4k

A4: Twenty-one states filed an amicus brief in this case in support of #ICWA. These states, which are home to over 70 percent of tribal nations, know that ICWA helps them better serve Native children and families.#ProudtoProtectICWA

TWO WORLDS Book 1 (second edition)

Two Worlds anthology (Vol. 1)

“…sometimes shocking, often an emotional read…this book is for individuals interested in the culture and history of the Native American Indian, but also on the reading lists of universities offering ethnic/culture/Native studies.”

“Well-researched and obviously a subject close to the heart of the authors/compilers, I found the extent of what can only be described as ‘child-snatching’ from the Native Americans quite staggering. It’s not something I was aware of before…”

“The individual pieces are open and honest and give a good insight into the turmoil of dislocation from family and tribe… I think it does have value and a story to tell. I was affected by the stories I read, and amazed by the facts presented…. because it is saying something new, interesting and often astonishing.”

Did you know?

Good words

I agree with you on the caring of “orphans” – true orphans, not “paper orphans” as Kathryn Joyce describes in her book, The Child Catchers. The most important thing to remember, however, is that the orphan’s original identity and family connection and heritage must remain intact and available to him or her forever. This business of adoption – and I do mean the multi-billion-dollar, unregulated business of adoption – of wiping out the child’s original identity, falsifying birth records with the adopters’ names, altering facts such as place of birth, severing familial kinship, must stop … Immediately. And the outrageous injustices foisted upon adoptees and their families for the past 100 years must be addressed and righted. We are faced today with six to seven million people who were basically legally kidnapped, sold to the highest bidder, their identities falsified, and placed in a lifelong, imposed witness protection program for which there is no legal recourse. Then told by church officials, agency and government functionaries that they have no right to know who they are, to do genealogy or learn about important family medical history, or know the identity of or associate with blood relatives. This is how the Judeo-Christian society has interpreted “caring for orphans”, for it’s own selfish interests and greed. Starting with Georgia Tann, the woman charged with kidnapping and selling 5,000 children, most of whom were given to the rich and powerful who then colluded with her to “seal” adoptions and cover their nefarious activities (see, for example, Gov. Herbert Lehman, NY, 1935).

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adoptees take back adoption narrative and reject propaganda

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